Yeesh, the 2012 Topps one is particulalry terrible (I assume that is the second one shown in this thread, as the images are not showing for me for some reason). These cards should not be made at all if the auto itself must be chopped in order to do so, but there is no telling any manufacturer that. I'm sure they care on some level (I am a former baseball editor at Topps), but the people who design the card are separated from the people that choose photos/edit, who are separated from the people who procure the auto, who are different from the people who cut it and place it in the card frame. It's a remarkably dissipated process to make a baseball card.
Just don't forget that these are baseball cards, and people like baseball cards. I can get a photo of Albert Pujols from 2001 and put some stats and a nice bio on the back, but people prefer the same with a Topps logo on it. Weird, huh? Clearly it's the same for autos. Lots of people dig a manufacturer's logo. And when they are done correctly, with respect for the auto and a nice design aesthetic, I will and have bought these in the past (see my photobucket link for a few examples). These Mantles do not fit that description.
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